Country Project Manager TESS-India

Job Title	Country Project Manager TESS-India
Directorate or Region	South Asia		Department/Country	TESS – India
Location of post	Delhi		Pay Band	F
Reports to	Country Project Director TESS-India		Duration of job	Fixed term contract until May 2015
Purpose of job: To contribute to the achievement of strategic and financial objectives and project outcomes through: • Lead the TESS-India Management Team to ensure the successful initiation and implementation of the TESS-India project and in particular the timely delivery of project outputs to specification and budget. • Responsible for project management, operational management and financial management leadership to the TESS-India project to ensure high quality implementation and high levels of satisfaction of internal and external stakeholders. Context and environment: The British CouncilOur operations in the four main metro cities and through libraries in five further cities engage with over 2.5 million people a year. We aim to increase our reach to 3 million (including 1.5 million enquiries) by 2013. We work across 3 strategic business units, Education and Society, English and the Arts.    We have 4 teaching centres in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai. Our nine libraries have a membership of more than 60,000, while our Exams business offers UK qualifications to more than 160,000 Indians wishing to enhance their English language, academic and professional skills. We operate through centres in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. In partnership with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, we run libraries in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Pune. India also hosts the British Council Management Services office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, which provides finance and IT services for the global network. The Open UniversitySince its foundation in 1969 The Open University has become the largest university in Europe, teaching  well over 230,000 people every year, and it is continuing to expand its activities globally. The OU has  been  one of the top three UK universities for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey every year  since    the survey began in 2005. In 2010/11 it had a 93 per cent satisfaction rating. In the UK’s latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) the OU was ranked in the top third of UK higher education institutions  and 50% of OU research was assessed in the RAE as internationally excellent, with 14% as world leading. The OU employs more than 5,000 full-time staff, approximately two thirds of whom are based at Walton Hall in Milton Keynes and 7,000 Associate Lecturers who work directly with our students. The Open University is: Open as to people and plays a leading role in the transition to mass higher education by serving an increasingly large and diverse student body Open as to places and contributes to a widening of educational opportunities by making its programmes, courses and services available throughout the UK and more widely in Europe and the world Open as to methods and uses distance-teaching methods and new learning technologies and teaching techniques to serve home-based and work-based students Open as to ideas and is a vibrant academic community dedicated to the expansion, refinement and Sharing of knowledge. Programmes of study include BA and BSc degrees; taught and research-based postgraduate courses leading to Masters and Doctoral qualifications; professional training in the fields of management, health  and social welfare, education, languages,  manufacturing and computing; and family, personal and  cultural education and leisure interests. The University has successfully transferred its expertise in  developing curriculum content and innovative pedagogy and in supporting students to programmes and projects across  the world. TESS-India TESS-India, a project funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development and led by the Open University, will address the urgent need to improve the quantity and quality of teacher education in India, improving the classroom practice of teachers that is essential for successful education reform. TESS-India seeks to improve significantly the classroom experience of millions of students in schools across India. The impact of this project will be to contribute to:• The development of a better educated teacher workforce at elementary and secondary level through an enhanced teacher education system that embeds practice-based and school-focussed training and which has increased capacity. • Changing teacher educators’ and teachers’ attitudes and classroom practices, through improving provision of, and access to, high quality practice based teacher education. The project will deliver: • A sustainable network of key teacher education organizations and institutions where capacity building and sharing fosters and promotes internationally recognized best practices in teacher education. • An accessible bank of high quality and activity-based Open Educational Resources (OERs) available to support the development and professional practice of teacher educators and teachers. • New and redesigned teacher education programmes, which have strong practice-based and school-based strands, built around TESS-India OERs, supporting enhanced and sustained change in the pedagogic practice of teachers. • Rigorous monitoring and evaluation of policy maker, teacher educator and teacher experience, to assess project impact and promote policy change at state, national and international level. The British Council will be a key partner and sub-contractor in TESS-India and will provide some consultancy services around some specific content areas of the project such as English language as well as administrative, financial, operational and logistical support. The TESS-India team is being recruited by The British Council in India on behalf of the Open University. The core team is based at the British Council office in Delhi and is headed by Country Project Director. It is anticipated that the core team based in Delhi will consist of 10 key staff. There will also be key team members working in each of the seven focus states. Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties: • Reports to the Country Project Director, works closely with the TESS-India Management Team and contributes to TESS-India strategy. • Accountable for financial management and leads on effective management of project budgets and successful delivery of projects • Line manages members of the TESS-India team - up to 7 State Implementation Officers and up to 3 Project Administration Managers with responsibility for projects, finance and operations 1. Project ManagementTakes responsibility for the successful and controlled planning, management and implementation of all aspects of the TESS-India project in India, demonstrating competence across project management disciplines with deliverables resulting in high levels of stakeholder satisfaction. Project Integration Management:• Project plan development – integrating and coordinating all project(s) plans to create a consistent, coherent document. • Project plan execution – carrying out the project(s) plan by performing the activities included therein. • Integrated change control – coordinating changes across the entire project(s). Project Scope Management:• Scope planning – developing a written scope statement as the basis for future project(s) decisions. • Scope definition – subdividing the major project(s) deliverables into smaller, more manageable components. • Scope verification – formalizing acceptance of the project(s) scope. • Scope change control – controlling changes to project(s) scope. Project Time Management:• Activity definition – identifying the specific activities that must be performed to produce the various project(s) deliverables. • Activity sequencing – identifying and documenting interactivity dependencies. • Activity duration estimating – estimating the number of work periods that will be needed to complete individual activities. • Schedule development – analyzing activity sequences, activity durations and resource requirements to create the project(s) schedule. • Schedule control – controlling changes to the project(s) schedule. Project Cost Management:• Resource planning – determining what resources (people, equipments, materials) and what quantities of each should be used to perform project(s) activities. • Cost estimating – developing an approximation (estimate) of the costs of the resources needed to complete project(s) activities. • Cost control – controlling changes to the budget. Project Quality Management:• Quality planning – identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project(s) and determining how to satisfy them. • Quality assurance – evaluating overall project(s) performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project(s) will satisfy the relevant quality standards. • Quality control – monitoring specific project(s) results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance. Project Human Resource Management:• Staff acquisition – getting the needed human resources assigned to and working on the project(s). • Team development – developing individual and group skills to enhance project(s) performance. Project Communication Management:• Communications planning – determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders: who needs what information, when they will need it and how it will be given to them. • Information distribution – making needed information available to project(s) stakeholders in a timely manner. • Performance reporting – collecting and disseminating performance information.  This includes status reporting, progress measurement and forecasting. • Administrative closure – generating, gathering and disseminating information to formalize phase or project(s) completion. Project Risk Management:• Risk management planning – deciding how to approach and plan the risk management activities for a project(s). • Risk identification – determining which risks might affect the project(s) and documenting their characteristics. • Qualitative risk analysis – performing a qualitative analysis of risks and conditions to prioritise their effects on project(s) objectives. • Quantitative risk analysis – measuring the probability and consequences of risks and estimating their implications for project(s) objectives. • Risk response planning – developing procedures and techniques to enhance opportunities and reduce threats from risk to the project(s)’s objectives. • Risk monitoring and control – monitoring residual risk, identifying new risk, executing risk reduction plans and evaluating their effectiveness s throughout the project(s) life cycle. Project Procurement Management:• Solicitation planning – documenting produce requirements and identifying potential sources. • Solicitation – obtaining quotations, bids, offers or proposals as appropriate. • Source selection – choosing from among potential sellers. • Contract administration – managing the relationship with the seller. • Contract closeout – completion and settlement of the contract, including resolution of any open items.   2. Operations and Implementation • Deploys staffing resources for day to day management of TESS-India activities and responsible for local risk management assessment • Leads on the operational delivery of the state implementation plan (with academic aspects of the plan being managed by Head – Academic Implementation) • In accordance with the plan, works with implementing bodies to facilitate and optimise TESS-India take up and use, reviews progress and reporting back appropriately. • Responsible for in-country logistics, driving these forwards during the inception phase and beyond. • Supports State interventions at an operational level; including ensuring timely delivery of State plans to budget & specification • Is a member of the State Steering Group, sharing best practice, transmitting information and facilitating partnership activities across all states. • Ensure essential British Council HR procedures and standards applied consistently -  performance management procedures and standards used to induct, manage and develop staff members. • May be required to work in other states on an ad hoc basis 3. Financial management and Procurement • Takes responsibility for local financial monitoring, reporting, contracting (using agreed templates), ensuring that mechanisms are in place to manage financial risk and to ensure transparency. • Develop, negotiate and produce contracts with partners, consultants and vendors following procurement guidelines. • Ensure effective, compliant financial processes as per standards set out in Essential Finance. • Ensure accurate financial information including analysis of data from financial systems to provide business assurance and to support decision making. 4. Relationship management • Identifies, develops and maintains appropriate and effective working relationships for the project • Demonstrates the credibility and tenacity required to facilitate the wider team gaining and/or maintaining access at the right level to state government. • Sharing of knowledge and information with internal and external stakeholders as appropriate 5. Representation• Has the capability, professionalism and gravitas to be the public face of TESS-India representing the Open University and the project on a daily basis in state. • Reports information to the Directorate as required in line with the DfID reporting cycle. Ensures that mechanisms are in place to gather required information in country.   Key relationships: Internal: • TESS-India Country team • TESS-India UK team • TESS-India appointed partners, sub-contractors and consultants • Wider British Council teams including Finance, HR, Procurement, Administration, Events, IT, Operations • Director – Education, Assistant Director - English External: • Department for International Development (DfID) • Senior bureaucrats and administrators in charge of education, typically, principal secretaries in Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) or Education Departments, State Project Directors of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), presidents and secretaries of state boards, directors of State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). • Vice chancellors of universities and other (teacher) education institutions • Teacher and Teacher Education Associations Other important features or requirements of the job (e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc) Fluent Hindi Some weekend working and travel to 7 focus states will be required. Any other ad hoc duties will have to be performed as required from time to time.
Please specify any passport/visa and/or nationality requirement.		Post holder will need valid work permit to work in India.
Please indicate if any security or legal checks are required for this role.		Reference Checks as per British Council India HR policy

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Brief description of skills

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Interested candidates should complete the application form (part 1and part 2 separately) and save it in their full name and email to careers.bcdelhi@in.britishcouncil.org by Sunday, 28 April 2013.

Only short listed candidates will be informed.